Li Xiao's categorical words made Xu Gao, the celebrant and eunuch, widen his eyes instantly.

I really didn't expect King Tang's statement to be so fast and responsible.

He originally thought that Li Xiao, who is now the king of Tang and is almost completely independent, must be despised in his heart for this almost pleading edict, and then vigorously complains on the surface, constantly stresses the difficulties, and refuses to withdraw his troops back to China. didn't know that Li Xiao, an important minister who had rebelled against the imperial court, would agree so happily.

What's more, Li Xiaogui, as the prince, actually proposed to go to the rescue in person, such a move of putting life and death out of the way shows that he is loyal and reliable, and he shows his sincerity.

For a while, Xu Gao was extremely excited, and almost wanted to bow down to Li Xiao and thank him.

It's just that he thought in an instant that the Tang Army, which has been in Liaodong for a long time, even if it wants to withdraw immediately, is not easy.

"King Tang, I heard that your troops are all in Liaodong, and the ships of the Navy Division are still in Shandong and have not returned, so if you want to withdraw your troops, can you only wait for the time being?" Xu Gao asked cautiously.

"The current large-scale withdrawal of troops is indeed too late. But this king can first lead the elite cavalry and return from Yingkou with the existing ships, hoping that no matter what, the emperor will be rescued from the capital! Li Xiao's eyes burned and he said word by word.

Looking at Xu Gao's very confused expression, Li Xiao sighed lightly, and continued: "Gonggong Xu, when you came by sea, Liukou had already attacked from Xuanfu and Beizhili to take the Beijing Division, and the situation of the Beijing Division was already like a tired egg, and it was precarious, how could it be too late to wait for all the arrangements of this king before withdrawing his troops and returning to China." If we want to wait until our Tang army is all withdrawn from Liaodong by ship and return to China, then the capital is afraid that it has been captured by the Liukou for a long time! The only way to do this today is to let the king lead his own troops and rush back to Beijing first, no matter what, he must rescue the emperor from Beijing first, and then make a plan. ”

Xu Gao finally understood what Li Xiao meant.

It turned out that Li Xiao had now prepared for the worst. That is, under such an urgent and ferocious situation as the Liukou offensive, it is impossible for the current Jingshi to be saved.

The only feasible plan now is to take advantage of the fact that the enemy has not yet attacked the city, so as to rescue Emperor Chongzhen, the head of the Ming Empire, from the capital as soon as possible, so as to retain the foundation of revitalization for the entire Ming Dynasty.

Xu Gao thought of this, and sighed in his heart.

However, he thought for a moment, and then asked tentatively: "King Tang, our family is thinking, the Liukou is moving so fast, even if we rush back immediately, what if the Jingshi has been surrounded by the Liukou?" ”

Hearing Xu Gao's question, Li Xiao's face suddenly became more and more solemn.

Li Xiao knew that the situation Xu Gao said could be described as the worst situation, and it was very likely to happen.

And once this most terrible thing happens, then, even if Zhuge is reborn and Sun Wu is reborn, there is nothing he can do.

Li Xiao didn't answer immediately, only turned his head and looked out the window. After a long time, he slowly replied: "Do your best and obey the destiny of heaven." Even so, the king will personally go to rescue him, in order to do his best to rescue His Majesty from the capital. This statement has come out, and there is no regret. ”

When Xu Gao heard this, he admired Li Xiaodun more and more, he didn't say much, he lifted his placket and knelt down in front of Li Xiao as if he was seeing the emperor.

"King Tang is so loyal and courageous, our family is so impressed, please accept our family's worship!"

"Why should Father-in-law Xu be like this, see you quickly." Seeing Xu Gao kneeling on the ground like this, Li Xiao hurriedly stepped forward and helped him up from the ground.

"Then, let's ask, when does King Tang plan to lead his troops to set off?" After Xu Gao got up from the ground, he hurriedly asked again.

"Prepare today, leave early tomorrow morning. Gonggong Xu has worked hard from afar, so take a good rest today, and return to the capital with this king tomorrow. “

"Okay, then let's retire first."

After Xu Gao retreated, Li Xiao immediately sent someone to call Tian Wei and Liu Guoneng, two generals, to come to the living room to discuss matters.

Soon, the two came to the living room, and Li Xiao didn't talk much nonsense with the two, and immediately got straight to the point.

The two listened to Li Xiao's briefing on the current situation, and they were both surprised.

And then, after listening to Li Xiao's own plans, the two were even more dumbfounded.

"Master Li, don't do it! Now the situation is so sinister, the Jingshi is in danger, the king of Tang is the body of ten thousand gold, and he is the master of an army, how can he be in danger, he must go to rescue the emperor in person! Although he was incompetent, he was willing to act as the king of Tang and immediately rushed to the capital to save the emperor. Tian Wei looked at Li Xiao eagerly, with indescribable anxiety on his face.

"Yes, Mayor Tian is right. Tang Wang is the commander of the first army, the backbone of the whole army, and he must not risk his own life to save the emperor in person. As long as you give the order, the country is willing to lead the elite soldiers to the capital, and the emperor will be rescued. Liu Guoneng, who was on the side, also interjected in a hurry, and would never agree to Li Xiaoqian bringing his own troops to go.

Li Xiao looked at the two generals with complicated eyes, sighed slightly and replied slowly: "Two, this king has just been named the Prince of Daming, and the emperor is in trouble, and An Ke will not come to the rescue." Moreover, the matter of rescuing the emperor is not only the duty of a courtier, but also a matter of great importance, and there must be no mistakes. Therefore, the king thought about it, and had to lead the soldiers and horses to the capital by the prince himself, which was the most appropriate. As for the land of Liaodong, it still needs to be garrisoned by the two of them, and when the ships return from Shandong to load grain and baggage, they will retreat and return to China. This matter is also very important, and it is the foundation of our army, and there must be no mistakes, and it all depends on the dedication of the two of them. ”

Tian Wei and Liu Guoneng glanced at each other, their eyes full of helplessness.

Tian Wei hesitated for a moment and asked again; "King Tang, have you ever thought about what if you rush to the capital and the emperor refuses to leave the capital and insists on defending the city?"

Li Xiao's face was awe-inspiring, and he replied in a deep voice: "If this is the case, at such a critical juncture, this king should take decisive measures to remove the emperor from the capital, and this matter is absolutely non-negotiable."

Tian Wei and Liu Guoneng wanted to persuade each other, but Li Xiao waved his hand to stop them.

"Needless to say, this king has made up his mind, he is ready today, and he will set off tomorrow. For the rest, please let the two of you arrange it to the king. “

After Li Xiao finished speaking, he immediately began to arrange all kinds of important things, roughly as follows.

1. Li Xiao will take his 500 escort cavalry to Yingkou tomorrow, and from there take the remaining ships at Yingkou Port and sail straight to Dagu Port in Hejian Prefecture, Tianjin.

2. All affairs on the Liaodong side were temporarily handled by Tian Wei, pretending to continue negotiations with the Qing court, and then secretly organizing the withdrawal of troops.

Among them, the troops of Haicheng and Yingkou were all withdrawn to Shandong, and the troops of Zhenyuanbao were all withdrawn to Jintangcheng on Xuanfu North Road. When the whole army retreated, it was necessary to completely destroy the two cities to the ground, and the nearby countryside and towns to be destroyed, in short, not to leave any material or population to finance the enemy.

3. After the ships returning from Shandong arrived at Yingkou, only half of the ships were used to transport their own soldiers back to Shandong. The other half of the ships went to the Zu Dale Department in Shanhaiguan and the Wu Sangui Department in Ningyuan City.

The reason for this was because Li Xiao considered that the current Liukou army was extremely fast, and the Shanhaiguan General Soldier Zu Dale Division, which was in the north of the capital, and the Ningyuan General Wu Sangui Division, it was estimated that they would not have time to enter the capital to rescue, and there was no way to escape from the attack between the Liukou and the Qing captives, so in order to prevent them from surrendering to the Qing court or the Liukou, it was necessary to send at least half of the fleet to the place urgently to assist them in withdrawing from the sea.

Li Xiao was sure that as long as he acted in time, then Zu Dale and Wu Sangui, who had not had time to evacuate, would definitely be quite grateful for their timely rescue.

Tian Wei and Liu Guoneng answered loudly, and then Li Xiaofu discussed some details with them, and the two retreated.

The next day, Li Xiao personally led 500 cavalry guards, and brought the eunuchs Cao Huachun and Xu Gaoyi to pull people, and the group went straight to Yingkou from Haicheng, and then boarded the only few ships from here and sailed to Hejian Mansion.

The worried Li Xiao understands that his current self is actually a race against time, and he must try his best to reach Beijing before it is besieged by the bandits, which is the only hope.

Li Xiao suddenly felt that now he only led the cavalry to go to the capital to rescue the emperor, which was a bit like Guan Yunchang in the Three Kingdoms, who was not afraid of life and death, and went to the meeting alone.

It's just that even if I do my best now, can I catch up with the changes in the current situation?

Li Xiao didn't know.

His fears soon became a reality.

Just as they were speeding on the sea, all the way south, and just when they arrived at the port of Dagukou, the army of the Liukou finally encircled the entire huge city of Beijing from the north and south.

Liukouli surrounded the capital like an iron bucket with three layers and three outer layers, so far, Emperor Chongzhen has no possibility of escaping.

As early as some time ago, the Dashun army entered Juyong Pass, the general soldier Tang Tong and the eunuch Du Zhizhi surrendered, and the "North Gate Key" of the Beijing Division, known as the natural danger, was opened in front of the Dashun army.

In a smooth situation, the Dashun army quickly approached the Jingshi, which cast a gloomy atmosphere on the Ming court, and Chongzhen and his ministers suddenly fell into a situation of anxiety and helplessness.

When the Liukou was rapidly marching to Beijing, Chongzhen and the courtiers were urgently discussing countermeasures in the Jianji Palace, and what made Chongzhen much disappointed was that these masters who had talked and attacked each other in the past were silent one by one, but they did not care about each other.

The emperor pretended to be calm, and according to the usual practice, summoned the ministers to resist the Manchu and Dashun armies and raise military salaries, and let them play the right games one by one.

Speaking of which, at this time of impending doom, it is really meaningless for him to make such a meaningless official article, just to calm people's hearts. However, in this tense moment, even he himself, the infinite fear in his heart could no longer be concealed.

Every minister in the court clearly saw that the emperor was completely absent-minded when he listened to the ministers' recitals, and he had not been able to listen to a few points at all.

"Listen to it with a few words, or look left and right and snort, it is the Japanese emperor's laughter that is quite impermanent. or pour tea, or grind ink, all by hand. If there is no clue, it is not the usual solemn scene. ”

Chongzhen's obvious anxiety and fear made the entire court even more uneasy.

Before the performance was over, Wang Chengen, the official eunuch at this time, hurriedly ran into the palace and handed a sealed document to the emperor.

Zhu Youzhen opened it and looked at it, and his face was immediately colorless.

He screamed, and he fainted on the dragon chair.

Seeing this sudden change, the courtiers who participated in the recital looked at each other, not knowing what was going on, and the court was suddenly in chaos.

Seeing that the emperor fainted, there was chaos in the court. The old slave Wang Chengen is quite assertive. He first hurriedly ordered the dispersal of the dynasty, and immediately together with a few little eunuchs, he drove the fainted emperor to the sleeping palace.

Helping the emperor to the palace, Wang Chengen immediately sent someone to call the imperial doctor, the imperial doctor hurriedly arrived, hurriedly pierced Chongzhen with several silver needles, and poured a dose of decoction, Chongzhen puffed, spit out a mouthful of dirty blood, and woke up slowly.

"Your Majesty, are you feeling better now?" Wang Chengen held a bright yellow silk scarf, helped Chongzhen wipe the blood from the corners of his mouth with his palm, and asked in a trembling voice.

Chongzhen did not speak with a gloomy face, and after Wang Chengen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, he grabbed the teacup on the royal table, gritted his teeth and threw it fiercely.

"Bang!"

With a bang, this blue and white porcelain teacup was smashed on the ground of the water-milled white jade.

"Your Majesty, you ......"

"You all get out of here."

"The Emperor's ......"

"Get out! Didn't you hear me?! ”

Chongzhen's burst of shouting made Wang Chengen and the imperial doctors and little eunuchs on the side startled.

The imperial doctor still wanted to speak, but Wang Chengen glanced at him again and again, signaling that he didn't need to say more, and let him retire with them.

In the empty dormitory, Chongzhen leaned weakly on the dragon couch, his face full of pain and confusion.

The reason why Chongzhen is so out of shape is because the secret letter is the terrible news that Changping has been lost and the rebel army is about to enter the city.

It turned out that just yesterday evening, the vanguard of the Dashun army arrived at Tucheng in the north of the Beijing division (that is, the ruins of the city wall in the north of the Yuan Dadu), where the Dashun army could no longer have any scruples, directly entered the city of Beijing, and began to attack the city.

In addition to this, there is also a message that can break Chongzhen's heart.

That is, the last hope he placed on him, the last strength of the three battalions of the three battalions of the Beijing army under the command of Li Guozhen, the Bo of Xiangcheng, more than 30,000 people, were all stationed outside the capital, and after the loss of Tucheng, as soon as the Dashun army arrived, they all surrendered immediately.

30,000 Beijing soldiers surrendered, and a large number of artillery guns and other equipment carefully cast by the Ming Dynasty all fell into the hands of the enemy when they changed hands, and they were about to become a sharp weapon for the siege of the city.

In the current situation, although the Liukou has not immediately begun to attack the city, the Beijing division is like a turtle in an urn, and there are no available soldiers, and there is no possibility of foreign troops and horses coming to help.

Chongzhen thought almost in fear, could it be that now he has only one way to go?

He was in an anxious mood, thought for a long time, got up from the bed again, like a sleepy beast, walked around the temple, rubbed his chest, sighed, and shouted repeatedly: 'I don't know who I employ, and the ministers inside and outside misunderstand me, misunderstand me! ’

The spring breeze was steep, and the emperor's mournful cry was quickly torn to pieces by the howling cold wind, and it could no longer be heard.